Wireless LAN Infrastructure Market Decelerates as 802.11ac Emerges as Growth Driver, According to Dell’Oro Group

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., June 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — A recently published report by Dell’Oro Group, the trusted source for market information about the networking and telecommunications industries, revealed the Wireless LAN (WLAN) market grew six percent in the first quarter 2014 versus the year-ago period.

“We expect that as the 802.11n, 3G offload and smartphone & tablet-driven cycles that drove growth in previous years fade, new drivers will emerge such as 802.11ac, the Internet of Things (IoT) and new service provider initiatives,” said Chris DePuy, Vice President of Wireless LAN research at Dell’Oro Group.

“While 802.11ac-based devices are experiencing significant growth, these represent too small a percent of total units to drive the industry faster than in prior quarters,” DePuy commented. “In addition, the expectation that so-called ‘wave 2′ 802.11ac radio systems will ship next year with added features and throughput versus systems currently shipping, is likely influencing purchasing trends on campus Ethernet switch networks as well as on wireless.”

In the first quarter 2014, the top three vendors in the combined Enterprise-Class and Outdoor Mesh Nodes category were Cisco Systems, Aruba Networks and Ruckus Wireless.